From the Parking Lot Workout to Fitness Empire: Empowering Women Through Fitness with Morgan Kline, Co-Founder of Burn Boot Camp

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Susan Sly 00:00
Well hey entrepreneurs I hope you're crushing it today. This founder and her husband started a business in a parking lot, and they expanded that now to over 400 locations. And while we are doing this show you will find out that her new book just reached USA number one bestseller, and she's absolutely incredible. In addition to being a mom of three and an amazing co-founder and founder, she is someone who continues to develop herself and grow, and I was so inspired by our discussion in terms of how do you handle it when no one shows up? How do you navigate working with your husband and even navigating changes in the roles in the C-suite where she assumes the role of CEO and he stepped down as CEO and assumes the role of Chief Visionary Officer, and she's going to give these tangible things that she does in order to just constantly be improving. It's amazing. So, Morgan Kline is the co-founder and CEO of Burn Bootcamp, and they are expanding like crazy. She hails originally from Battle Creek, Michigan. She started her career at the Kellogg Company, and she learned a lot while she was working there. She and her then-boyfriend Devin, who had been released from a major league baseball team, decided that they had a passion for fitness, and they started these boot camps in parking lots. Today, she is a titan in the world of fitness and franchising. So, with that, I hope you will enjoy my interview with Morgan Kline. And my ask is that this show again, we get this out there to the world, and we have a production team. Please share the show, comment on the show, we'd love a five-star review. We want to - my goal is to really inspire millions of people around the globe to start, grow, and really like to start and scale businesses. So, I would love that. If you have a suggestion for the show, please go to susansly.com and just send a comment in. I read all those comments. And don't forget to stay after. I've got a very short startup diary for you, so you are there listening, or you can head over to YouTube and watch it. So, with that, enjoy the show with the founder of Burn Bootcamp, Morgan Kline.
Susan Sly 02:26
This is Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, the show that brings the no-nonsense truth of what is required to start, grow, and scale your business. I am your host, Susan Sly.
Susan Sly 02:40
Well, why is that, raw and real entrepreneurs? Wherever we are in the world, I hope you're having an incredible day. And the guest that I have today, as I was sharing in the intro, is like what she and her husband have accomplished is just nothing short of a miracle. To go from a parking lot to 400 locations, I mean, it's insane. And we were having this conversation, I was like, Oh, I've got a show to do. So, I always say, like, what happens before the show? Like, we've got to bring that into the show. But Morgan, first and foremost, thank you for being here on Raw and Real Entrepreneurship.
Morgan Kline 03:18
Thanks for having me. I'm excited for a fun chat today.
Susan Sly 03:21
I mean, so many things we're talking about, like first thing I want to go right into. There are a lot of listeners who are working in corporate jobs. They are frustrated. Entrepreneurship has kind of become almost a trend. Right before, it was like a small percentage of people want to be entrepreneurs. Now, even for Gen Z, that is their number one thing. They want to be an influencer or an entrepreneur. And there you were working corporately for Kellogg, and like first and foremost, what got you to that tipping point where you said enough's enough. I need to start my own business.
Morgan Kline 03:55
Yeah, great question. And I think you're right about this generation. We have so much more access than we did even 10 years ago to share influence and to be influential and to build a business. And I think that's something that's really incredible just about how technology has developed us. But yeah, so if I, if I go behind, you know, back to my college days, that was the American dream is to graduate from college and get a job at a corporate, you know, business that you could get 401k benefits and insurance benefits. And that is really where I grew up in a small town, Battle Creek, Michigan, where actually, that's where Kellogg's is headquartered. So, I grew up smelling cereal on Saturday mornings, and I knew a lot of people in the area that worked for the headquarters. So, once again, that was a, that to me was a really great opportunity. So, I went to school in Western Michigan, and that's in Michigan as well. Western Michigan and I went into the food marketing program and got a job. I was an intern, got a job right out of college, moved to Naples, Florida. I was a sales rep, I was calling on 135 Publix, Walmarts, Winn-Dixies, Sweetwater grocery stores. And I, as somebody who didn't ever have experience really outside of my hometown, that was a crazy experience for me, you know, putting myself out there, walking into a store and just talking to the store manager who I had no rapport with. And I learned a lot of really great life lessons. But I knew I wanted more. I knew I wanted to climb that corporate ladder because that was just what was ingrained in me. So, then I got a job.
Morgan Kline 05:34
And I got promoted to Charlotte, North Carolina, and to work in an office, and I got to then learn like Excel skills and analytical skills, and I got to support an entire team. And all while this was happening, my high school sweetheart, Devin, had been drafted to the San Francisco Giants. So, he played in their minor league baseball program. And so, he's doing his thing, I'm doing my thing, we're both really like feeling good about our careers. And then he gets released, which really just means he gets fired from his job in the world of, you know, minor league sports or even professional sports. And he kind of came to his crossroad of like, well, that was my plan A, like that was my dream. Now what am I going to do? And so, the whole time he wants to build a business, he wants to be a personal trainer. And he's like, you know, how can I make this a business? He had experience with big box gyms, and he knew what he didn't want in the fitness environment. And so, when I did get promoted to Charlotte, which is where we are today, he decided to start his own boot camp. And then we called it Burn Bootcamp, and we were 24 years old. We had no money other than my $65,000 Kellogg job. And so, we started in a parking lot because no one would answer our phone call to say, Yeah, we want to lease you a spot. So, you know, I say all this because again, my plan A was still corporate, it was still Kellogg's. I had never had put my thought around being an entrepreneur, leaving this safe job, partnering with my boyfriend at the time, we weren't even engaged yet, and doing something completely radically different. So, what had happened was this business in a parking lot started to grow and grow and grow. And I started to see all the work he was pouring into it. I was helping him where I could, weekends, you know, mornings, evenings. Devin became my own personal trainer so I could relieve him from having to train all the boot camps. And that was the tipping point for me, Susan, was when I started to see myself get this fulfillment that I didn't even know I was seeking. But when I could impact somebody in a positive way, I could see where my work was actually putting a smile on their face or helping them build confidence and helping them reach goals. That was for me a pull away from this safe job that I had, this, you know, great opportunity to continue to grow in. And so, that's when I got to this crossroads. And I was like, Okay, what am I going to do? Like, I'm not even married to Devin yet. You know, there was a lot of considerations. We're still in parking lots. We were in five parking lots at that point, getting ready to flip to brick and mortar, but we were still very young in our business. And it probably was a six to eight month process for me to think through actually going in and quitting my job. And you know, what I say to young people now is I'm so grateful for those experiences. You know, I was not ready to be an entrepreneur right out of college. I needed to learn what it was like to work with people in an office. I needed to learn, you know, adversity. I needed to learn communication skills. I needed to learn how to get really uncomfortable and do something that was challenging. And so, I'm grateful for those stepping stones for me. And I waited until it was the right financial move for me to actually leave my job. I didn't just do something on a whim which is advice that I do give people. Like, hey, it's okay to want more for yourself and to want more for your life and to be an entrepreneur, but make a plan. You know, you got to go about 50% planning and 50% like trust your gut instinct of like what's this feeling I'm chasing. So, for me, it was chasing a feeling, it was knowing that there was a real opportunity for me, and I knew that if I failed at that then hey, you know what, I'm gonna go back and I'll go get that job again. And so now, looking back in my Kellogg days and just that entire experience, again, I won't ever say negative things about corporate life and working a nine to five job and working for somebody else. Because, for one, it taught me so much of who I am today and how I'm able to lead, and also it's given me perspective though because now I run an office of 100 people and you know I have nine gyms with 250 employees and those gyms and we have a franchise system now.
Morgan Kline 09:56
And so it was always really good perspectives as what do I even want my office to look like? What do I want my culture to be? How do I want to attract the right people so we can build something great. And so hopefully that answered your question. But it was a feeling. The tipping point wasn't a number or like an activity, it was a feeling that I said, okay, I'm dreading going into work, and then I'm excited to get out of work so I can go be a personal trainer. And I wanted to feel that all the time.
Susan Sly 10:29
And that's interesting you say that, Morgan, because a lot of people that I've interviewed in 400 shows, it's like I reached a tipping point because of an event. And it's not always an event that has to do with work. It's an event like I want to be at home with my kids, I want flexibility, or my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I need to care for him. It's not always something, and we always want to be cautious as entrepreneurs about throwing shade at corporate life because if you are really going to grow and scale a business you are going to work in a corporate environment.
Susan Sly 11:07
And many years ago back in the 90s I was working corporately for Bally Total Fitness when Bally Total Fitness was the largest health club chain in the world. And I was a manager at Bally's in Toronto. And the reality is there were some things I pulled from that experience in terms of even how, you know, I lead teams today. And so I love that you said that. But I will push you back a little bit because customer acquisition, who were the first people in the first parking lot and how did you find them? That's what I'm wanting to know.
Morgan Kline 11:42
Yes, good question. We were in a brand new city. We had moved to Charlotte for my job. So Devin moved up from Naples as well. And we knew no one, we knew like one or two people that I worked with. So he started, you know, this guerilla marketing campaign but we were very niche back then. So we were Charlotte's fit community of moms. So we have evolved a lot. And we'll talk about that a little bit when we talk about the brand and Burn Bootcamp. But we knew when we wanted to go into this space of boutique fitness because we knew that's ultimately what we wanted, we wanted a boutique style workout that was geared towards women. But we even niche ourself smarter to talk about mothers because what we were able to do in the parking lot is we actually subleased in a gymnastic studio. So we always had child watch as well because we knew one of the biggest barriers for moms to put themselves first and do something for themselves was their children. You know, they didn't want to feel that guilt of spending time away from them or it costing more money on their membership. And so one of the things that we've always had in Burn Bootcamp is complimentary child watch. And so again, that's who we were marketing for. And that's who we were going, we were going to events, we were going to businesses with like-minded women and mothers. And we were putting ourselves out there, Charlotte's greatest workout, you know, you gotta believe it and say it before it's actually true. But that's what we did. And it started with 10 people in the first camp, you know, and then maybe eight people at the next camp and maybe two at the next. And then on the fourth day, no one showed up. And it's like those are those moments where you can say this isn't for us. This isn't about, no one, no one wants to do it. Or you can say, okay, we're still gonna go through the motions. And so Devin's still running around the camp on that Thursday. But then it's like people showed up and showed up. And back when we built this 2012, Facebook wasn't audited today. From an advertising perspective, you know, Instagram wasn't even around yet. So there wasn't this. And we had not, we didn't have the money. If it was around we didn't even have the money to go blast a bunch of ads. So we knew it needed to be referral. And we needed to get people talking about the program and the workout and the community that we were creating through Burn Bootcamp. And so that is how we've grown in the beginning. But even today, you know, it's a franchise system and 90% of our franchisees came from within the system. That means they walked into a Burn Bootcamp just to get a workout. And they continued to come and continue to come and said I want to be a bigger part of this and inquired about franchising. And so that's the community and the culture that we've built by just connecting like-minded people and it started with moms. And then it evolved to women and women now and their families. So we now have, you know, a lot of men, we have about 6% male membership. And now I'm seeing people that we used to bring their babies in and they're 13 and now they're working out and able to do the workout.
Susan Sly 14:50
And even like you and I were talking about before the show because when I think about, in my research preparing for our show, the early Burn Bootcamp attendees, those women are now in perimenopause. Like we were seeing, I entered, I entered perimenopause at age 38 after I had my last child who's now 14. And so thinking about who these users are, and one of the things I admire about what you and Devin had built, and I said this to you before the show, is that flexibility, right? So we, as an entrepreneur, you can start super niche, but then like, you know, it's how do we expand and be more inclusive? I love what you said, you have to say it and believe it. I want to talk about that for a minute. Yeah, because there's an entrepreneurial saying like fake it until you make it. And some people interpret that, Morgan, as I've got to go lease a car I can't afford and I've got to, you know, put a $5000 suit on credit. And I've got to do that. What you're saying in your come from is so different. Can you talk about like speaking into existence something that isn't there yet? And how you wrapped your mind around that? Or did it just come naturally to you?
Morgan Kline 16:04
No, I think it's a strong mind-body connection that Devin and I have always had and had that from our backgrounds just with some things that we experienced as kids and just wanting to kind of run from that pain and saying, Okay, I have to believe in myself, right? Because there's a lot, there's gonna be people every day that you experience that do not believe in you, they don't believe in what you're going to do, and they are going to throw a lot of shade towards it. You have to have that mental strength to say, if I don't believe it and I don't walk with that confidence, then how can I ever expect somebody else to be attracted to me because that's energy that's energy that you're going to put off. If your mindset is telling you negative things about just even yourself or your ability to get to the next version of yourself, you'll start, it's all going to start to come to fruition. So do you want positive thoughts? Or do you want negative thoughts to come to life? And we believe in that a lot. We talk about it in our book, we talk about it at Burn Bootcamp, and we walk it in our daily lives right now. And so once you do things like that and you start to fake it till you make it and put things out in the universe, you're really setting these Northstar goals, you're saying this is my vision, this is how I want life to live. And then what are the things that you need to start telling yourself every single day that's going to get you to that space. Because once you get there, it's a rep and then you've built confidence in yourself. And you got to continue to build those reps. Because confidence is not something that you just get one time and then it's there for the rest of your life. You got to keep putting yourself in situations that are scary and that maybe don't make a ton of sense. But the belief that you have in yourself gives you the confidence to get through things that you maybe once didn't think was possible. And I transmit that a lot to working out in our gym or working out in any gym. When you say okay I could pick up the fifteens. Or I could pick up the 20s. You go and make a choice, right? You go pick up the 20s, maybe doubting, "I don't think I can do that." But just the fact that you did it, you tried to, you believed that you could pick up those 20s. Even if you only got five reps, you have worked that confidence muscle in a very small way. And when you do hard things like that and you build that little confidence every single day, it transcends outside of fitness into what you're doing every single day. So, we're big proponents of putting the future out there, speaking vision, having vision, and making sure that your thoughts and your actions align with what that vision looks like.
Susan Sly 18:40
And that's so huge. Like you're talking to the girl who, I have posted on my bathroom mirror portable vision boards, like I do it all. And I love that you said that, like speaking it into existence, like we have a slide on our pitch deck for The Pause that I've envisioned what women were like in pre-prod release, right? And I have this slide, Morgan, envisioning what women are going to say about the app, and I was doing an investor pitch the other day and I was like, "This is what women are going to say. This is our vision of what they're going to write in the app store. This is what they're going to tell each other." You know, it's not like, "Are you using The Pause?" It's like, "Why are you using The Pause?" Like, "Why wouldn't you be doing that?" And it's that same thing. I want to go back to something you said. So, I love that. And I can't wait to read your book. We're going to talk about the book in a minute. Like, I'm such an avid reader, like I have a...
Susan Sly 20:00
...Anyway, how did you manage it the first time it happened?
Morgan Kline 20:28
Yeah.
Morgan Kline 20:29
You know, it's hard to put myself back in those shoes in that time where we're not today. But I would say, man, I have a lot of thoughts in my head right now. But...
Morgan Kline 20:48
Because I'm so glad we kept showing up. Excuse me. So glad we kept showing up because I think for us it wasn't about us, it was about who we wanted to serve. And so that is what's carried me through so many times of doubt, whether that was something didn't launch well, or you know, we're not getting the response that we wanted, or that we thought, maybe we're not hitting the goal that we set out for ourselves. But it's not about me, it's not about Devin, it's not about the goal that we set for ourselves. It's about who are we serving? And how well are we serving them? And so when I think about these times and these milestones, one being when people didn't show up to, you know, on a Thursday, the fourth day, I just think about if we would have given up, wow. Like now I look back and say, wow, over, you know, 125,000 people right now today wouldn't have a gym, you know, wouldn't have a home, wouldn't call a place like they do Burn, you know, their gym home and connections that have been built through this brand. And you know, lives changed, lives saved, lives transformed, you know. And so for me it's about always keeping the mentality that it is not about me. And it's about the people. And if you don't know who you want to serve, right, like you just said, you already have it in your mind who you're going to serve and what they're going to say and how they're going to feel when they experience your app and how their life is going to change and the choices that they're going to make are going to change and then they're going to tell their friends about it and then their lives are going to be changed. Like you're able to visualize that because you can think of who you're serving. And I think even in the beginning moments where Devin and I were still building what we wanted, it still was always about how do we serve as many people as possible. It's our mission statement. It's even if it's one life, even if one person showed up because I've had so many camps where just one person showed up. But I don't care. I didn't close it down. I didn't leave early. I didn't, you know, I waited 15 minutes. And if they still showed up, I still trained them. Because yeah. So when you're focused on how you can serve others versus other people serving you, I think that puts, it does put external pressure on you to keep moving and to keep working hard and to keep showing up. Because on the other side of that someone will be impacted and their life will change.
Susan Sly 23:18
Absolutely. And even you know, it's quite obvious you are so committed to being the next best version of yourself before you become the next best version of yourself. And after interviewing hundreds of entrepreneurs, and I wouldn't even say that, you know, it's things I never even talk about. But like in the past when I would spend like keynote in front of 20,000 people on stage in Las Vegas and just, you know, traveling the world to developing countries, working with women who received microloans in Cambodia and all these different things. I've narrowed that down to that moment which everyone's going to face where no one shows up, where you get the rejection, they don't want to invest in your company, or no one can see your product idea, or whatever it is. And there are only two types of people. There's what I call MBD which is we look at it and it sucks. But we go, how do we do something more, better, different? So, like more, maybe we need to talk to more people to get more people in that room, or better. How do we improve? Maybe it's a better time? Maybe we're not, we don't know yet. Maybe this isn't the right time on a Thursday because maybe we're competing with, we're in Atlanta, we're competing with the Braves game. I don't know, I'm just making that up. Or we do something different. Maybe the class initially is 75 minutes, maybe we have to offer 45 minutes, whatever it is. But there are the MBD people, and then there are like yourself and Devin, and then there are the people who go, well, this just proves this isn't going to work. Yeah, right. And that's why I wanted you to share that story because for people...
Susan Sly 25:47
...and sometimes he drives me crazy. And I drive him crazy. Okay, but you have managed. So, Devin was CEO, you recently took over as CEO. What I want to ask is, you don't have to spill the tea on your marriage. But obviously there are times when you are disagreeing about something. How do you handle that as a couple who works together professionally? Like what tips would you give on that?
Morgan Kline 26:14
Yeah, and listen, what I'm about to say is, it's through a lot of hard lessons. Like we had to learn it the hard way by just a lot of trial and error, a lot of looking at each other sometimes and saying, okay, we got to do something different, lots of moments of frustration both in our business and in our marriage, then you add on three babies. So, there's been a lot, right, that we have had to navigate and go through with all the growth and just family and profession. But we take on a responsibility, we've taken on a responsibility of being, you know, the founders of the brand and being the CEO and he's the visionary. And we're still here every single day. And we know that if we're not congruent, like our office will know it and that therefore our system will know it and we won't be able to ever truly do what we want to do or get to the next versions of ourselves because we'll be in each other's way. And so I would say about...
Morgan Kline 31:18
...but it's come with, like I said, a lot of trial and error, a lot of times where if I'm stressed at work as the CEO sometimes I'm like, you don't even understand because you're not in it every day right now, you know, and there's that, there can be resentment. But again, if I go back and I appreciate the role that he's playing right now and then the role that I'm playing then we can come together and I can actually talk to him about what I'm stressed about. And sometimes that's all it is, is just getting it out. It's huge. Yeah. Communicate, then I mean, then you're likely going to have something fail in your life or you're going to be very stressed out.
Susan Sly 31:56
Absolutely. You've got to fix the communication. And a girlfriend of mine said to me, we were at this massive tech conference. And you know, like, it's amazing. Conference and cocktails, right? And I have this amazing girl tribe of technologists and we all look at the same things. And she said, you know, Susan, it's interesting with a marriage. So, in business, let's...
Susan Sly 32:20
...track together our companies. And that contract had a, like a two year with an option to renew, we'd sit down with a team and we'd renew the contract. And we would expect that both companies would be in a different place in those two years. We don't do that with a marriage. So, we married someone maybe in our 20s. And then we're like still living in that marriage 20-30 years later going, wait a minute, we're different people now. Why haven't we updated the contract? And so one of the things I did, Morgan, coming back from that, I said to my husband, I was like, you know, now that we're growing a new company because he was the CFO of our last startup and he's the CFO of this company, you know, we're like, we're two different people now. We have different experiences, different things going on, different stage of our life. Our youngest child is 14, so different. And I was like, we need to make a new contract. Like, who are we being? Who do we want to be? How do we want to show up? How do we want to communicate? And that's something we're working on now. This is called Raw and Real Entrepreneurship, so I don't mind throwing it out there. And it's just like, for me, it's like a workout. So if I go to Burn, unless like, I can't think of a reason why, I would never not finish my workout. I'm a former Ironman Distance triathlete. I finished my Ironman with a fractured pelvis. I am a finisher. It's the same thing with my marriage. I'm not going to tap out because like no one showed up in the parking lot or it's, you know, whatever's happening. We've got to figure it out. And I love, I wrote them down, like, you know, the nonviolent communication, the 4-hour offsite, like reading the book Rocket Fuel. And I love those tangibility's. And I know like there are so many things I want to ask you. But what I really want to talk to you about is the book because you have, you've given some glimpses into building this business. And I just want to level set for the listeners like seriously, parking lot to five parking lots to the brick and mortar to growing up a franchise and now like a new location, you know, going into new states, going into Montana as a new state. And to do this all, hats off to you, my friend. Having babies, building with your husband, growing as a person yourself, being positive, doing the work. And as a woman, it just, Morgan, like seriously. And now let's add to that amazing illustrious resume, author. So talk about the book, right? Like, yeah, yeah.
Morgan Kline 34:59
Thank you. Well yeah and it just released. While I'm not sure when this podcast will release but it came out June 18. And we actually found out today while you and I are recording this that we are a bestseller on USA Today. So super exciting. And we're going to find out tonight about the New York Times list. But you know, this book is a love letter to our members is what we like to say. And this book isn't a business book per se but this book is, it's got 14 real stories of members that have had transformations at Burn Bootcamp. And I think when you, you know, when you share all the accolades that I've accomplished and I really appreciate those kudos, but for me it's, I just go back to who I serve and I serve incredible women. And when I get to hear stories of, you know, I found my identity again when I started coming back to Burn and putting myself first and it saved my life. There's people that were freed from addiction, you know, and their life was, they wanted to commit suicide and working out, you know, and the environment that they were placed in at Burn Bootcamp saved them. I mean it's just, the stories are incredible. And so what we do is we talk about our five different strategies but we also call those the five pillars at Burn Bootcamp. And it's burn, believe, nourish, achieve and connect. So number one is burn. That is doing something challenging every single day like we love Burn Bootcamp. But that might mean something different to you, maybe it's riding your bike, maybe it's going for a walk, maybe it's whatever it is, but how are you doing a demanding workout. And that's different for everybody. And we believe very heavily that every workout needs to be different for somebody, it's going to be challenging to them based on their fitness level, their age, what's going on in their life, any injury they might have. And so it's not a one size fits all, burn is not a one size fits all. So we talk about that as the first strategy. Number two is belief. And we talked about that a little bit earlier in the podcast, it's what's going on in between your ears, you know, because if that can't be right, nothing else is going to follow, right? The mind-body connection is a real thing. And so what you believe is what you are going to become. And so we talk about how can you get your mind right? How can you get your belief system to be a positive one? What are the words you're speaking to yourself? Are they words of winners or words of losers? Who are you, who are you allowing to come inside here? And then what are they saying to you? So that's our second strategy. Number three is nourish. So what's your nutrition like? How are you fueling your body? Because there's not bad food out there. We like to have a really positive approach on food because we know a lot of women especially have dealt with either food addictions or body dysmorphia or eating disorders. And so how can we approach food as nourishment and fuel, as that you either give us that good feeling or that not so good feeling. So we have 50 recipes in there that you can make under 10 minutes. And then the fourth strategy is achieve. So this is another thing you and I talked about which is setting a vision for yourself, right? Saying you're the greatest trainer before you become the greatest trainer. And what is your Northstar? If you don't have a feeling or a goal or something that you want to achieve, and I'm not talking earn a million dollars, I'm talking what do you want? How do you want your day to look? What are the feelings you want to have? Who do you want to surround yourself with? If you don't think about that, life is just going to go like in any direction and you will not have control of it. So we believe in like taking control, taking power back, creating a vision for yourself and then giving you those tools to actually achieve it. And then last but not least, which is my favorite, is connect. And that is the community, that is what has made Burn Bootcamp so special. There's tons of workouts out there, there's tons of boutique fitness out there. But what keeps people is the community and the people that they get to surround themselves with. Because when you have that, everything else can start to fall in line. It's the negative people around you, that's what you're gonna believe. If you have positive people around you that are holding you accountable, that love you for exactly who you are today but can also cheer you on for who you want to become. That's going to give you motivation to make them proud too. So community is that last one, that connect strategy. So that's what we talk about in the book. We've got workouts in here for anyone that maybe doesn't want to be connected to an app or maybe is not ready to walk into a gym right now. We've got workouts in here, we've got the recipes and then 14 amazing stories and all of those five strategies to inner and outer health as soon as the inner and outer strength because you can be physically strong, right? We can have bicep muscles, we can have a six-pack but what...
Morgan Kline 40:00
...your mental six-pack look like, you know? What's that inner strength look like? And that's what we're after at Burn Bootcamp and we're doing that through the gateway of fitness. But we want to help people become, you know, mentally strong, emotionally strong, spiritually strong.
Susan Sly 40:18
Yeah. And that's huge. Like the...
Susan Sly 40:22
...we need to be just like throwing it out there. We need to be inspired as, as a, you know, this is a global show. But as a world, it's so easy to focus on what's not happening. It's so easy to focus on your gaps, not your gains. And my hope for the readers of the book, Morgan, is regardless of maybe there's no Burn Bootcamp near them, but it inspires them, as you say, to get on their bike again or to, you know, enter a 5k or to do something that fuels their soul. And, and that's huge. And I see so clearly. And I, you know, again, as I told you before we started the show, I was like, I said to our show producer, I'm like, Teesha. Like I have to interview Morgan because I'm like, I'm so impressed, my sister, with what you've accomplished. And there, I've just spent the last several weeks lecturing on the stats on startups for women. And yes, you did this with your husband. But at the end of the day, you're still juggling so many other things. And, you know, and I love that you continue to do the work on yourself. It's awesome. And congratulations, USA Today bestseller. By the time you all see this, probably New York Times bestseller, go get the book Burn. And again, links will be in the show notes. But Morgan, thank you just so much for being here. I appreciate it.
Morgan Kline 41:56
This was great. Thanks for letting me chat and talk to your audience.
Susan Sly 42:01
Absolutely.
Susan Sly 42:01
Well, everyone, Morgan and I would love a five-star review. So on iTunes, wherever you have Spotify, just like drop us five stars. Also, do share on social, tag us. We would love that. If you have questions about the show, just go to susansly.com. And with that, Morgan, thank you so much. I can't wait to see Burn Bootcamp on the moon. I'm sure that's coming.
Morgan Kline 42:22
We're working on it. Thank you so much.
Susan Sly 42:26
All right, everyone. With that, this is another episode of Raw and Real Entrepreneurship. And I will see you in the next episode.
Susan Sly 42:36
All right, it's startup diary time and getting raw and real. I am newly in our Montana house; there are still boxes and boxes to unpack. So, I'm going to swivel something, and our show producer is going to be beside herself when I show you a box of stuff. I got here two nights ago from the time I'm recording this. And I've been traveling. I was at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) Discover event in Las Vegas in the Sphere, which is huge. It seats about, I don't know, 18,000 people or something, and I was there in the second row when HPE CEO Antonio Neri and Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, announced their new collab and the ability to offer private cloud in T-shirt sizing, which if you don't know what I'm talking about, that's totally cool. I was so nerded out. And it was awesome. We also had a private concert for the attendees with the Grateful Dead. I haven't listened to a Dead song in, oh gosh, many, many years, but it was also in the Sphere, and to see all the graphics going across, like it was amazing. And HPE, behind our startup, has put significant marketing dollars into our company. And so, I was interviewed in the media. I had the privilege of being on stage. They also asked me to host a peer-to-peer roundtable with enterprise-level executive decision-makers on menopause. That just hasn't happened before. And as great as that all sounds, and it was fun, and the parties and the fashion and you name it, seeing my friends. I came back, and I was really tired. And in fact, on the last day, that evening, I was supposed to go out with a friend of mine to a Cirque du Soleil show. And my throat was hurting. I'm very, very sensitive to cigarette smoke, and I was exhausted. I haven't been sleeping. And in the past, I would have said, "I'm just going to push through." I did not have it in me to push through. And one of the things that I've learned as a CEO and as a founder is, what is the best use of my time, and how do I show up in my power? Because I also knew that we had been chosen out of 180 startups to be a select group of startups to pitch to this specific venture fund. And I needed to leave Las Vegas, go back to Scottsdale, and prepare for this pitch. And so instead of pushing through, I said, "You know, I'm really sorry. I'm not feeling well." I gave away the tickets to another friend of mine who's a founder of a company. And I went back to Scottsdale and I took care of myself. And I, you know, and I was able to show up for that pitch the following Monday morning and be in my power, to be clear, to be healthy. And it took me a long time to get to that point where I really know myself so well now that when my well is empty, pushing through just means that there's going to be a domino effect, and other things are going to suffer. And I would say in this week's diary, something I want you to think about is, do you really know yourself? Do you know what it takes for you to show up in your power at 100% of where you need to be? And you know, for me, that means when I've had an event like Discover where it's like go, go, early morning, late evening, all of that, that for me, it's coming back, it's getting good workouts in, that helps to fill my well. Taking time to pray, to meditate, to journal, to reflect on all the gains, to be able to have that quiet time, to actually not speak to other humans, just to take a breather and go, okay, just, you know, some people, if you've ever seen me on stage, that you have done big speaking events like 20,000 people and so on, they think I'm naturally an extrovert. But the reality is, a lot of the times I'm introverted, but I can be a situational extrovert. I can like, you know, put myself out there. But I do need to balance that with having that time. And so I did the things that I know help to reset me and to bring me back. And that I did the pitch in the morning, that afternoon I flew to Montana. And now I have all the unpacking to do. And we're building our products. And we are getting ready for our first version release, which is a small test group. And then we'll have a very quick fast follow second test release for a bigger group. And then we're planning on a big release for the product. And I am really excited to share a life-changing product with women who are going through perimenopause and menopause. And I keep thinking about the lives we're gonna change and what we're creating. And that's what keeps me going. And at the end of the day, just being true to myself and knowing what I need in order to show up and to be that CEO and founder that creates that life-changing product. That's, you know, that's what I'm doing and saying no or tapping out of something that is going to be fun and amazing is really hard, but making those hard decisions, especially if you know how that's gonna affect you. That's what being a CEO is all about. So, with that, that's this week's startup diary. Drop a comment below. Don't forget to subscribe on YouTube, please do comment, share, and tag me. I'm Susan Sly. I'm gonna go to my next meeting and then go unpack.
Hey, this is Susan, and thanks so much for listening to this episode on Raw and Real Entrepreneurship. If this episode or any episode has been helpful to you, you've gotten at least one solid tip from myself or my guests. I would love it if you would leave a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts. After you leave your review, go ahead and email reviews@susansly.com. Let us know where you left a review. And if I read your review on air, you could get a $50 Amazon gift card and we would so appreciate it because reviews do help boost the show and get this message all over the world. If you're interested in any of the resources we discussed on the show, go to susansly.com. That's where all the show notes live. And with that, go out there, rock your day. God bless, and I will see you in the next episode.